Cooke & Bieler LP Buys 165,456 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cooke & Bieler LP grew its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 9.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,843,838 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 165,456 shares during the quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $76,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,760 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $732,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 21,568 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $889,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,383 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. Private Portfolio Partners LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC now owns 27,457 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,715 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.50 to $46.50 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $45.78.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $1.45 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $41.48. The company had a trading volume of 31,194,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,456,420. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The business's 50-day moving average is $40.91 and its 200 day moving average is $40.51. The stock has a market cap of $174.60 billion, a PE ratio of 16.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. Verizon Communications's revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.21 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).